The Next Story
by Sweet Possum
Summary: a new series that takes place after The Way Things Should Be. how will Rin deal with her rejection by her teacher?
1. A Sad Day1

**Hi everyone! I'm finally starting my next fic for Kodomo no Jikan! It takes place after The Way Things Should Be. I decided to make a new series for the show! Anyways, Each two chapters is gonna be like an episode. Part 1 and part 2 will have the same name. Then a different name will be a new episode. I hope that makes sense to you.**

**Also, nobody has to do that favor for me if they want to. I decided to watch the show once per week so I'm keeping it balanced.**

**Also, I am sorry for the confusion of the InuYasha fic being sent here. I guess I accidentally sent this to that document name by accident because it had the same name. Sorry for that how embarrassing! I deleted this though and had to re write it, so I'm afraid it won't be like it was before but it will still be good hopefully.**

**Anyways, this story is about how the characters are going to be making some changes, so if you don't like the thought of that don't read this. Ok on with the story!**

**A Sad Day**

"Alright, settle down," Aoki said Monday morning to his 4th grade students who were mis-behaving as usual. The teacher felt like freaking out since the kids weren't listening to him, but he decided it was best to stay relaxed. _Just the first bell...the warning bell...after the final bell...they will calm down._

"Sensei Aoki doesn't deserve the respect he wants," Kuro Kagami said to her friend, Mimi Usa.

Mimi glanced at Rin Kokonoe to see what her reaction was, but she grew concerned when she saw that her friend was quiet, and looked sad, not even looking at anything but the floor. "Rin, are you ok?" the quiet girl asked softly.

Rin quickly turned to her friend and gave a fake smile. "Yes...yes I'm fine..."

Kuro looked at Rin then at her teacher and gave a small glare. _Rin is only upset when she's having issues with Sensei. What did he do to her this time?_ She looked at Rin, who was again looking sad and depressed. _Why won't she just get over him?_

The second bell soon rang, and the teacher started to settle down his students. Surprisingly they listened. "Ok good," he said when it was quiet. "Now, we're going to start a new lesson today in science..." he paused for a moment and took a look at Rin, who was just staring at the ground, looking sad. It concerned him, but he knew the reason. "Does anybody have any ideas what the topic should be?"

Everyone was silent, refusing to request.

Aoki sighed softly and looked at Rin. "Kokonoe..."

She didn't answer.

"Kokonoe..." he said louder.

Rin got startled and jumped out of her seat, falling on the ground, which made the rest of the kids laugh except for her two best friends.

Aoki walked over, kneeled down and looked into the girl's eyes. "Are you alright?" he asked.

She gave a sad glare, not daring to look at her teacher. "I'm fine," she said softly and got back into her seat.

He felt a little down for her to be sad, but he continued on to be the teacher. He stood back up. "Kokonoe, do you have any ideas for what the next topic should be?"

Rin took a look at the silent class, thought for a few seconds, then spoke. "Animals. Everyone loves animals."

The teacher smiled. "Good idea."

"No Rin," Mimi whispered, "animals means dissection. And I don't want that."

"Oh..." Rin softly said with a nod and turned her head to the teacher, although refusing eye contact. "No animals means no dissection."

"Huh?" Aoki questioned then laughed, getting the point. "The last thing I want is for my students to get nauseous. No dissections."

Mimi sighed with relieve.

"Alright," the teacher continued while going to the board. "First we'll start with classifications. That means to group animals. We put them in certain groups so we know what they are. For example..." he started writing on the board.

Kuro glanced at sad Rin once more and gave a concerned look while the teacher wrote on the board.

"Rat," said Aoki as he turned to the class. "It's a rodent. So it goes in the rodent group. What other animal would go in the rodent group?"

The class was silent.

Aoki called on Mimi to answer.

"M..mouse," she said softly as she held her books close, feeling shy.

"Good, that's right," he wrote it on the board.

When it was time for lunch, all the students rushed out of the class, including Rin, although she walked out slowly.

Rin took a step to the drinking fountain and got a drink of water. _Why did it have to not work out? _Rin just stood there, staring at the wall with a depressed look on her face.

"Kokonoe?"

Rin slowly turned her head to see Hoin standing there giving a curious look.

"Shouldn't you be at lunch right now?"

Rin was silent for five whole seconds but finally nodded slowly, still revealing a depressed look.

The female teacher grew concerned. "Are you alright, Kokonoe?"

"Fine..." Rin slowly started to walk ahead toward the cafeteria and suddenly stopped.

"Kokonoe?" Hoin asked, still concerned.

The 4th grader turned her toward the teacher. "Tell me...about Sensei Aoki..."

"Aoki...?" Hoin was curious.

"Would you say he's...a very honest person?"

The teacher was still confused of the question, but decided to go along with it. She nodded. "Yes, I would say that."

"He doesn't lie...?"

Hoin was silent for a few seconds but finally spoke with a small smile. "He would never lie to any of his students. He knows what's best for you all."

Rin didn't want that answer but nodded. "Right." She finally turned back and continued walking until she came to a turn so the teacher wouldn't see her.

_Not fair..._ The girl started running until she found a closet, and ran in and closed the door behind her. After that, she sat, holding her knees close to her and started sobbing.

**Alright that was the first part of episode 1. the second part will come in the next chapter! Please review!**


	2. A sad Day2

**Hey sorry for the long update! Enjoy!**

**A Sad Day**

Kuro and Mimi got very concerned that Rin didn't show up for lunch, and it made them want to look for her. They did so, looking all over the school, even the classroom and outside, but couldn't find her anywhere.

The girls were about to give up when they suddenly thought of the storage room, so they walked toward there. "She has to be here," said Kuro, "where else?"

"What if she's skipping?" Mimi nervously asked.

"She wouldn't be." Kuro opened the door to find poor Rin with her face buried in her knees. She slowly looked up at the two with tears in her eyes."

"Rin..." Kuro said, shocked by what she saw and felt sad.

"Rin, are you ok?" Mimi asked softly.

Rin weakly gasped as she wiped her tears away. She didn't want her friends to see her like this because she knew they couldn't do anything about it.

Mimi quickly kneeled down to her friend's level and put a hand on her shoulder. "Rin...why are you crying?"

She tried to speak but couldn't as she choked from all her tears.

"Did somebody hurt you?" Kuro asked as she also sat down in front of her friend and gave a concerned look.

Rin didn't know what to say. She was obviously hurt but knew that Aoki didn't mean to do this to hurt.

"Rin, what happened?" Mimi asked.

This time, Rin finally spoke. "It's just...it's just...it's just that..."

"Girls..?"

The three girls turned around to see Hoin standing there curiously. "What are you three doing in here? You should be heading up to class about now."

"We were going to," said Kuro. She then turned back to her friend and gave her a worried look. She wanted to talk more but knew it was best to head to class, so she let it go for now and the three friends were off.

"Twenty times two...can anyone guess the answer?" Aoki asked the next class as he wrote the math problem on the board and faced the students.

Nobody answered, though, so the teacher tried to help them out. "Two times two is what?"

"Four?" a boy replied.

Aoki smiled and wrote it on the board. "That's right. If you add a zero to two, though, it makes it twenty. Add the zero to the original answer, and you get...." He looked through the room and finally decided who he wanted to call on. "Ah, Kogami...what would you say?"

Kuro looked up at the board. She really didn't feel like answering but she actually knew the answer to decided to go with it. "Forty...I think..."

He smiled and wrote down the final answer. "That's right. Now, I'm going to hand out a work sheet."

The kids moaned.

"Don't worry, there's only seven problems and it's only one side of a page. You can do it." Aoki started handing out the papers one by one to each student. Once he got to Rin, the girl didn't dare to make any eye contact like she had before. This worried him some more, but again let it go for now. "Alright, go ahead and start."

As everyone started their worksheets, Aoki sat at his desk deep in though. _Kokonoe is a mess. She won't even talk to me. If this keeps up...then she may not do well in class._

"Hey Rin," Kuro whispered to her friend.

Rin slowly turned to her.

"You can tell us now...what's going on?"

It took the girl three seconds to finally reply with a smile. "No need to worry...everything is fine, really."

Her friends curiously looked at each other than back at her. "But Rin, you were crying," Mimi replied.

The girl shook her head. "Quit worrying."

They didn't know what to say but decided to let it go since they saw a smile on their friend's face again.

When school was over Rin almost made it out of the classroom when a sweet male voice said her name. She suddenly stopped and just stared at the opened door.

"Kokonoe...I wanted to talk to you..."

She was shocked by this and turned to her teacher with a glare. "What?"

He sighed but gave a small smile. "Please come over."

She sighed and walked up to her teacher while holding her books.

"I've been worried about you all day..."

The girl looked down with a sad expression.

"Please don't make this hard. I just want the best for you and I need you to keep a smile on your face and stay on task. I care about you."

She glanced at him when she head those last words.

"Please....I don't want it to be this way. Please try to understand that it has to be this way."

She harshly sighed and turned away. "Fine." And with that, she was off.

Aoki sadly sighed. _I hope...it will get better..._

**Sneak Peak of the next episode....**

"_**Rin...Rin please...what are you doing?" Mimi asks as she follows her friend.**_

"_**Aoki.," says Hoin, it's Rin..."**_

_**Aoki quickly runs out of the classroom and out the building to the school play ground. He sees Rin sitting on top of the monkey bars with a glare.**_

"_**Kokonoe...what are you doing? Get down from there!"**_

"_**No!" she screams. "Not until you tell me that you love me!"**_

_**He gives a concerned expression.**_

**Coming** **soon...in the next chapter..**


	3. The Rebellion1

**Hey everyone, so sorry for the long update. A lot of other stuff have gotten in the way. Anyways, I am currently working on To Day For, which I have busting my butt off for. When I'm finished with that story, I want to take a break from writing. But anyways, I forgot who it was that wanted me to update this story again, but for him, I decided to give him this Halloween gift and post to chapters before I take a break from writing. **

**So here's the second episode to The Next Story!**

The Rebellion

Waking alone, Rin thought about her recent talk with her teacher. _He says he cares about me._ The nine year old stopped and sadly looked to the ground. _But if he cared about me, he wouldn't want me to be sad. And…there's only one thing that will make me happy._

Rin was so confused. She didn't understand why Aoki was making this decision, for it made her depressed, and she knew that he knew why she was. But for some reason, he wouldn't help. He wouldn't change his mind.

When the girl got home, she said her greetings to her cousin, and went straight to her room. She wouldn't give up on him. No matter what happened or what she had to do, she wouldn't give up.

"If he won't listen to me through the heart, then I'll have to act to get his attention." And so all evening she thought about what she had to do the next day.

During dinner, she was even asked what was up, but she just gave a huge smile and said that she was fine and that she couldn't wait to go to school tomorrow.

That night Rin dreamed. Dreamed of her and Aoki, her beloved teacher. _"I'm sorry, Rin, I didn't notice how much you cared. I will be with you forever."_

The next day in class, Kuro and Mimi noticed that Rin didn't' seem depressed anymore, although they did realize that something was on her mind as she kept a serious look on her face.

"Rodents are considered a mammal," said Aoki to the class, "because they are warm-blooded, breathe with lungs, and have hair. Can anyone else think of another mammal?"

Kuro immediately raised her hand.

"Yes, Kogami?" He was a bit surprised to see her raising her hand.

"A monkey. Like what's teaching our class right now."

The class laughed at her choke as the teacher sighed, and continued teaching.

Kuro quickly looked at Rin, who looked back seriously. _There Rin, I stood up for you. Whatever he did to you, I made him know what kind of animal he is._

But she just looked to the side, as if she wasn't pleased with what her did.

That made Kuro curious, and a little upset. She still didn't know why Rin wouldn't give up on somebody she would never have a chance with. Also, something was going on in her friend's mind that made her wonder.

When lunch was almost over, Rin gave a disapproved look at her friend, Kuro. "It wasn't something you had to say," she said to her.

"But Rin," Kuro replied, "I don't want to see you hurt. And you know how much Sensei is depressing you."

"He won't. Not anymore."

"What are you saying, Rin?" Mimi softly asked in concern.

"He won't let me down anymore. I'm gonna make sure of it."

"What are you going to do, Rin?" Kuro asked. "Because I'm sure whatever it is, you'll just get in trouble."

Rin gave a small smile and shook her head. "Nope. I know Sensei Aoki. He cares about me and would never get me in trouble. He's gonna listen. And he's gonna take me."

"But you've known him for a while now. What makes you think he's gonna take you now. What is it you're going to do that will convince him?"

"You'll see." Rin then turned her head the other way with her eyes closed and took a bite out of her rice.

When recess came, Kuro and Mimi curiously followed her friend out to the playground, wondering what she was planning. "Rin? Rin please…what are you doing?" Mimi asked when they got outside.

Rin stopped in front of them and gave them a concerned look. "I won't come to class," she said before walking to the monkey bars.

The girls followed her and looked at her curiously as they watched her start to climb up.

"Not until he changes his mind."

Kuro and Mimi watched Rin climb onto the top of the monkey bars and sit there. "But Rin," Kuro started, "are you really going to stay up there?"

"I will until he takes me."

Kuro watched her closely. _Maybe that's what I should do some day…on you, Rin. Will it really work?_

Rin sat on top of the monkey bars all through recess, and when it was time for class, all of the kids ran inside, except for Rin herself, and her friends.

"Rin," Mimi started, "recess is over. You have to come to class. You'll get in trouble."

"I already told you," she replied, "he won't let that happen. He cares about me. And when he notices I'm not in class, he will come to me."

Kuro and Mimi looked at each other and then back up at their friend. "But Rin," Mimi continued, "I don't want to get in trouble. I can't skip class."

Rin kept her face away from them. "This is about me and Sensei. You guys don't need to stay here with me."

Mimi nodded before running back in, and only Kuro was left. "Rin, do you really want to do this?"

"I have to!" Her face was finally on her friend seriously. "It's the only way. Kuro, go to class. I'll be fine."

Kuro knew that Aoki wasn't the only person who cared about Rin. She did, too. More than anything in the whole world, and she didn't want to see her friend get in trouble. But she also knew she couldn't stop her from doing something she desired. No matter how much it hurt her. No matter how jealous she felt there was nothing she could do.

So Kuro ran away and into the building passed Hoin, who looked at her curiously, and glanced outside. She was concerned and curious to see that a student was still outside on top of the monkey bars, so she headed outside to find out what was going on.

Rin grew angry to see that it wasn't her beloved Aoki, but her competition. Although, she did nothing, and just sat there with her legs bent back.

"Kokonoe? What are you doing?"

"Sitting," she answered firmly, and rolled her eyes.

"Kokonoe, recess is over. You have to come to class."

"You're not my sensei. So it's none of you're business."

Hoin was shocked to see her act this way, and wondered what was going on in the girl's head. Although she stayed calm to she could reason with the child. "Kokonoe, it is my business. All of the kids must be in class."

"I'm not in your class! I'm in Sensei Aoki's class! It's his business!"

Hoin was getting concerned, and wasn't sure what else she could do but get some help. So she turned around and headed back in the building.

Rin kept a serious look on her face as she watched the woman leave. She was certain that now there was a chance that the person she wanted was going to come out. She hoped that's what was going to happen.

"Alright, settle down," Aoki said to the loud class

"Aoki," Hoin said as she stepped inside of the classroom and looked at him with concern.

He looked at her curiously.

"It's Kokonoe."

"Huh?" The sound of her name in that tone worried him. "What do you mean? Where is she?"

"She's still outside. She won't come down."

Aoki immediately ran out of the classroom and down the hall. He knew Rin had gone through a lot in her life. He knew she was upset yesterday, and now he was worried what she was up to.

When he got outside, he stopped and saw Rin sitting on top of the monkey bars looking at him, as if she was nervous.

_Sensei..he came. He actually came._

"Kokonoe! What are you doing?"

She said nothing, and waited for him to keep on trying.

"Kokonoe, get down from there! Class has started!"

"No!"

He was shocked as well to see her act this way. "Kokonoe…"

"Aoki!" Hoin called as she came outside, too, not even thinking to leave the class alone. They, of course, were curious as well, and came along to see what the trouble was.

Rin, of course, didn't care how many people came. As long as she had Aoki, that's all that mattered to her. She waited, for him to try even more.

"Aoki," Hoin said, "I don't know what's going through her head."

Aoki looked up at the child again, trying to think of something to say to get her to listen. "Kokonoe, why are you doing this?"

"Why are _you_ doing this?" she asked angrily.

He was starting to get the hint on what she was talking about, but it wasn't something they needed to discuss in front of the whole class. "Kokonoe…you need to come down."

"I won't! Not until you tell me that you love me!"

He felt awkward and concerned at once, and only stared at her, trying to think of something to say.

Rin sat there, waiting for him to say what she wanted him to say. But the only thing she saw was Hoin talking to him, and that made her confused. Kuro and Mimi were also watching and looked at their friend with concern. They would do something, but they already tried to convince her out of it. So there was nothing more they could do but hope she would give in.

"If she doesn't come down," Hoin said to Aoki, "you'll have to take her to the office. It's the only thing else you can do."

Rin heard it call, and felt nervous but shook her head. _No. I know my Sensei Aoki. He would never let me get in trouble._

Aoki sighed and looked back up at Rin. He was silent for a few seconds and finally spoke. "Rin, you'll have to come down now and go to the principal's office."

The girl gasped. She couldn't believe it. The one man she loved. The one man that she loved, and who cared about her, wasn't going to give in. He wasn't going to tell her he loved her. He was going to send her to the office, and get her in trouble.


	4. The Rebellion2

**Ok just to let you know, this will be the last chapter before Haloween. I will continue after wards but I'm not so sure win. So please don't give me a hard time about it. I really am liking this story and I will never give up on it.**

**The Rebellion**

Rin sat sadly in a chair of the principal's office as she waited for her punishment. _I can't believe…Sensei sent me here._

"So skipped class, wouldn't enter the building after recess and refused to listen to your teacher," the principal said to the girl disappointedly.

Rin looked to the ground and refused to answer. The only thing she could think of was that her plan didn't work; and that the love of her live betrayed her. She wasn't so sure she was more angry or sad.

"Kokonoe," she continued, "it's wrong to disobey those who are in charge. When they asked you to come down, did you?"

The nine year old shook her head sadly.

"Right, so that means you are to stay after school today for thirty minutes."

Rin finally looked up at the principal in a shocking look. "You mean…detention?"

She nodded. "It's the rules. Now go back to class."

Rin stood from the chair and left the office immediately. She had never gotten detention before. Not just that, but it was one thing that her teacher would not like about her. Her plan of getting him back was going down the drain.

When Rin got to class, she made no eye contact with Aoki, and didn't look at her friends either, who were dying for some answers. A lot of the kids in the class were snickering and making comments about the incident.

"Way to go, Kokonoe," a boy said with his thumbs up in the air, "you didn't listen to Sensei Aoki, and you got in trouble. Nice!"

Kuro glared and turned around to look at the brat. "Shut it, Jun!" she exclaimed.

"Everyone please," Aoki interrupted, "its time to learn." He glanced at Rin, who was looking down sadly and sighed. He was a little disappointed himself that Rin acted up today. But he knew she got what she deserved, even though he felt awful about it. "Alright," he continued, "who would like to come up to the board and solve this problem?" He turned to the class and waited for a response.

Aoki would have called on Rin, but he knew she was in no position to do so, so he let it alone. "Would anyone like to come up and solve it?"

The whole class shook their heads as Aoki sighed. "Alright. Whoever can answer it will get a prize."

"What kind of prize?" a girl asked.

The smiled. "A special treat from me."

Rin looked up quickly. _A special treat from Sensei. I have to do this."_

"Ok," the girl started, "I will try…"

"I'll do it," Rin said loud enough for the whole class to hear. She felt everyone looking at her, and she watched Aoki staring at her curiously.

"Sensei," the other girl said, "I want to give it a try."

"No, I'll do it," Rin said firmly as she glared at the girl.

"Alright, you both can try," Aoki replied. He headed back to the blackboard and wrote down the math problem a second time. Then he turned to the class. "Ok, both of you come up here and do the problem."

Both the girls ran up to the board and grabbed their piece of chalk. Rin looked at her component and then at Aoki. She was a little nervous, for math was a hard subject. But she had to win the prize. She guessed that Ai Higurashi, her component, wanted to win just to get a treat. Rin wanted to win because it was a treat from Sensei Aoki.

The girl took a deep breath. _Ok, I can do this._ She then looked at the problem, which looked so hard, but worth it. _Ok…_When she saw that Ai had already started working on the problem, Rin started as well. _No…that's not right. Wait…yes! I got it! I know what to do!_ She started to write away as she felt Aoki staring at her._ He'll be proud of me._

Aoki watched the two silently as half the class chatted with each other. _Kokonoe really is trying her best. I'm impressed despite of what happened today. _He thought about those words that Rin said to him. _"Tell me that you love me!"_ He couldn't believe she said it in front of the whole class. Although, nobody seemed to question him about it, so maybe it wasn't a big deal after all.

Rin worked her hardest on the problem. She erased, wrote, erased, wrote, till she finally knew what she was doing, and wrote down the answer. Both the girls put their pieces of chalk down and looked at Aoki.

The teacher stepped over and looked at the two problems and the answer. Ai's answer was 47, and Rin's answer was 61. He looked at the two girls, who were smiling back at him.

"I knew I could do it," Rin said.

Aoki shook his head and sighed. "I'm sorry Kokonoe, but that is incorrect."

"Huh?" She looked at her answer, and at Ai's answer. They were completely different answers, but she could have sworn she got it. _No. I was so confident…I knew I got it right._

"Congratulations Higurashi," Aoki said, "you got your answer right. So tomorrow I will bring in my treat for you."

"Thank you Sensei," Ai said with a smile and went back to her seat.

"No," Rin said, "I know I got it right! I was sure I did it! You have to calculate it, Sensei!"

"Kokonoe," Aoki said softly, "please take your seat."

The girl gasped, not believing how his reaction was. She realized how Aoki was starting to get firmer with her, and it wasn't helping her at all. Rin slowly sat back down in her seat as Aoki continued with his teachings.

"Rin," Kuro whispered, "math is hard. Don't feel bad."

Rin turned to her sadly. "You don't understand," she whispered back, "he probably thinks I'm not smart anymore. I won't get his treat, and I just made a big full of myself. And he doesn't seem happy with me at all."

Kuro sighed. "It's because of what you did today. Rin, do you really think he's going to change his mind and take you?"

Rin turned the other day with a glare. _Don't say that, Kuro. I know he will take me. But…things are worst than before. It's like he hates me now. _Rin felt like running all the way home, heading up to her room, and crawling in her bed under the covers. That's how bad she felt.

When it was just ten more minutes till school was over, Rin's heart started to pound when she remembered she had detention. It was something she was not looking forward to at all. She watched Aoki as he was teaching. _Why did he do this to me? Why? I thought he cared about me! And I thought he loved me! I don't understand! I don't wanna look at him! I wanna leave right now!_

Before Rin realized it, she was already out of her seat, and running toward the door and out the classroom.

"Kokonoe!" Aoki exclaimed.

She didn't stop, though. Not for him, not for anyone. She ignored everything around her. She didn't look back, and just kept running. When she finally got outside the building, she kept running. _I don't want to be here. I have to get away!_

Aoki quickly left the classroom to look for Rin, but couldn't find her anywhere. When he saw that the door was wide open though, he knew she had left, and immediately asked Hoin to take over his class for him. _Why? Why is she…?_

Rin ran away from the school grounds, and didn't stop for five whole minutes when she decided to take a rest. _Sensei…I didn't want to make you hate me…I didn't want to make things bad. I just…I just want you. That's all. _

The nine year old looked up at the dark sky and felt a rain drop. It soon started to pour, but the girl didn't move. She wanted to think that this was something to wash everything away. To wash away her troubles. But deep down she felt like nothing was working. In fact, she felt much worst. _Why is this happening? Why?_

"Kokonoe!"

Rin gasped and turned around to see Aoki standing there. _Sensei.._ She couldn't believe he went after her, and her heart started to pound when she watched him walk over to her.

"Kokonoe…"

Rin stared at him. _He's going to send me to the office again. He's mad at me._

Aoki wasn't happy, but he knew why Rin had run away. She was frustrated and couldn't blame her for being so upset. He knew, though, that she would have to get in trouble some more. He sighed and closed his eyes. "Kokonoe…

Rin waited for him to talk, but hoped he wouldn't. She didn't want to hear him tell her what she did was wrong. She knew it was wrong, but she didn't want to hear it. Especially from Aoki. "Sensei, I…"

"Kokonoe…"

Rin looked to the ground sadly. _Just say it. I can't escape you now. Just say it._

"Kokonoe…" he stopped and shook his head. "Rin…"

The girl looked up at him in shock. _He said my first name._

"You shouldn't be out here. It's raining to hard."

"Class is almost over. I can just head home now."

Aoki shook his head. "You have detention."

Rin looked to the ground sadly when she felt a hand touch her arm. She looked up and saw Aoki smiling at her.

"I'll take you back. And then I can help you get dried off."

Rin only stared at him. She wasn't sure why he was suddenly being nice to her again. She didn't want to go to detention still. Although, she smiled, being glad that he was with her now.

The two finally walked back.

By the time Rin and Aoki got back to school, the students had already headed home. Rin did feel nervous about what her next punishment would be. But she remained calm as her teacher walked her to the classroom.

He helped her dry off when they got in the room, and then Aoki looked at her. "Go sit down…for detention." He smiled at the girl.

Rin was still confused why he was being so nice to her even though she was in trouble. "For how long?" she asked.

"For thirty minutes."

"But…I ran away. I deserve much longer."

Aoki shook his head and leaned down to the girl's level. "It's ok. I'll let it go. You suffered enough in the rain."

"But…I thought you hated me."

Aoki was shocked to hear that, but shook his head. "I could never hate you. I only hated what you did today. But I will always care about you. Know that, ok?"

She didn't know what to say. Hearing those words from Aoki again, though, made her feel happy again. She slowly nodded and sat down in her desk. "But, who's gonna watch me while I'm here?"

Aoki went to his desk and smiled at her. "Me of course. I'll keep a good eye on you, and me sure you don't do anything wrong. But I'm sure you won't."

Rin smiled back and nodded.

Aoki then grabbed something from his desk and walked over to Rin. He sat the thing down on her desk and smiled.

Rin looked down to see it was a fun sized Hershey bar, and looked up at her teacher.

"It's a treat…for trying your best on the math problem."

Rin was sure it was nothing compared to what Ai was going to get, but something so tiny from the man she loved was enough to make her happy. She unwrapped the candy and put it in her mouth. She started to chew away proudly, and couldn't wait to have Aoki stare at her for thirty whole minutes.

**Sneak Peak of the next episode…**

_**"What are you saying?" Reiji asked angrily on the phone. "That my little Rin got in trouble? What did you do to her this time!"?**_

_** Aoki, who's on the other line sighs.**_

_** "Rin," Kuro says, "do you wanna have a sleepover tomorrow night? Just me and you."**_

_** "I'll have to see," Rin says, "I wanna make sure if Sensei Aoki isn't doing anything tomorrow first."**_

_** Rin leaves and Kuro stands inside the classroom in shock.**_

__**Next episode in the next chapter.**


End file.
